John 10:18-31 Bible Teaching

John 10.end
June 1st 2014
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Alright, we covered verse 17 exclusively last week and talked all about the vagaries and nuances implications of the verse.

In it Jesus says:

17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life . . . Here we have just the first part of the reason or purpose of His life – to sacrifice it – and the Father loves Him for it. (we talked about this last week).

But He adds . . .

. . . that I might take it again.

Certainly the Father’s love for the world is played out (Joh 3:16) by the voluntary offering of His beloved Son whom He loves.

Romans 5:8 says it well – listen:

“But God commendeth (demonstrates) his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

People want proof that the invisible God (whom no man has EVER seen) loves us?

He sent His Son – Himself incarnate, to become human, to take on flesh and although He lived a completely just and lovely life, He was brutally killed – for us – and here’s the deal, this Son offered Himself to a world that in no way whatsoever deserved it – at all – in the least.

The Father so loved the World that He gave . . . and the Son so loved the Father that He gave . . . He laid down His life.

That’s just part one though of His point. Jesus adds:

. . . that I might take it again.

In other words He looked beyond his death on the Cross . . . to the resurrection.

Granted, we gain oh so much from the fact that He willingly laid down his life in love for the world.

But this is only part of the total picture and if we don’t get everything in place we will find ourselves frustrated by the perfect life of Christ (that is always being thrown in our faces as the model we need to follow) and our inability to actually live and act as He did.

So while we do stand amazed at the love Jesus displayed in and through His life and death, the purpose of His Passion was not merely to exhibit his unselfish love for us – it was also that He might resume His life enriched and empowered as never before.

The Word became Man – flesh. As man, He was here to do all that man can do in and through the power that was with Him from the beginning.

All that He did as a man is a model and type for each of us – even to the point of sitting on the right-hand of the Father – as we become Joint heirs WITH Christ Jesus, as we suffer with Him.

I would suggest another view to understand the person and sonship of Christ Jesus.

God’s word is living and true. And God took His Word and it became flesh, and dwelled among us as His Son – His human Son who is LITERALLY the Son of God and literally the Son of Man – and as the Son of Man is our mediator to His Father.

He is the perfect Son who always does the Fathers will, to the point of laying down His very life.

In this model that God gave because He so loved the World, we find the pattern for true Christian living.

But we must look at it in the proper order.

We are not from above as Christ was – we are from below. We are not by birth Sons and daughters of God but are sons and daughters of the flesh.

He came from the beginning as the fullness of God. We begin as being spiritually dead.

So we have to look at Christ and His life and model as representing “corrective measures” on behalf of humanity (caused by the fall) in order to really comprehend how His perfectly lived life, His suffering for sin, His laying down his life and His resurrection from the grave applies to each of us!

Stay with me, this is radical!

Look at the existence of Jesus –

Leave heaven
Perfectly lived life
Suffered
Died
Raised to new life

Look at the Christian experience

Raised to new life (born-again)
Die to former lives
Suffer (with Him in the daily death)
Begin living a sanctified life
Enter heaven

In other words, His resurrection to new life is emblematic of each believer being raised from the dead (of their former lives in the flesh) through spiritual rebirth!

And His death prior to being resurrected is emblematic of our continually dying to the flesh (remember Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15 that he “dies daily,”).

His suffering is emblematic of our suffering to die to the will of our flesh and to do His will . . .

And His perfectly lived life is a type of the life mature Christians live by the spirit and finally . . .

His coming from heaven as a true child of God is a picture of our entering into heaven . . . as the same.

What a radical God we have, what an amazing picture laid bare in and through the very life of His Son!

Again, I think a revisit to the words of Paul in Philippians (2:5-16) will do nothing but add clarity to the application of all this to us as His followers, saying:

5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.

Now, speaking of His life which He laid down He says (verse 18)

18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

I love this passage for a number of reasons. First of all, in it we find liberty and freedom of the will in Christ.

It existed in Him fully. What made Him so over-the-top wonderful and beautiful is everything He did He did willingly and out of the greatest motivations possible – genuine love for God and Man.

It is of interest that some theologies suggest that there is no free will in Man – that it is a myth, that God is in charge and man does NOT choose.

But in Christ Jesus we discover just the opposite circumstance – His was a surrendered life to the will of the Father. Had God mandated and forces His every move I would suggest that His sacrifice would not be nearly as respected and loved.

But He gave His life freely – to the point that NO man could take it from Him. He gave it up when it was time and no man was going to take it before or after.

Later on in this chapter we are going to read when Jesus (allows Himself) to be taken before Pontius Pilate, the Roman
Governor.
In chapter 19 at verse 9 we read:

John 19:9 And (Pilate) went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, “Whence art thou?” (LISTEN) But Jesus gave him no answer.
10 Then saith Pilate unto him, “Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?”

And at this point Jesus says something that would, to me, have been terrifying to hear. He says:

11 “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.”

Again, Jesus was submissive to the will of the Father (from above) and willingly submitted all that was going to be done to Him to His control – but not the control of men.

Back in verse 18 He makes it all clear:

18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

Again, looking at the model or pattern illustrated by His life for us as believers we find a similar parallel –

Nothing men can do or say or demand can take our fleshly lives from us – we have to, like Christ, lay it down ourselves.

Through Christ alone we have the power to lay our will and fleshly desires down, and by no other way.

No religious enterprise, no system of salvation, no “How to overcome the flesh in twenty-days or less” can force or cause us to lay our lives down for Him – It HAS to come from us – from a willingness inside that paradoxically says:

“I will . . . lay my life down.”

Of course such a human decision is derived from the same place and motivation that motivated Christ to lay His life down – love for God and Man.

Verse 19 (and on which is our text for the rest of our time together)

19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?
21 Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?

22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.
24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.
26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
30 I and my Father are one.
31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

Okay, back to verse 19:

19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.

And naturally, as with anything that is tapping on the door of truth, there are those who believe the peddler is good and those who find Him insane – (verse 20-21)

20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?
21 Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?

From this we can see that John’s narrative thus far is all orbiting around the healing of the man born-blind, which is why I suggest that it is one of the most emphasized stories in the New Testament.

At verse 22 we move on with John giving us some background information, saying . . .
22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.

Now, this seems like a very logical line or insight to include in scripture, doesn’t it – the time of the year, the season.

These things speak to me when it comes to authentication.

The fact is winter is mentioned 14 times in scripture, summer 27, snow 24 times, hail 34 times, rain 90 times, cold 17 times and heat 34 times.

This make some good sense when we claim that the Bible is a real history, right? Especially in an land and people who were primarily agrestic and had to constantly deal with the extremes of weather.

Imagine if the holy land was located in the artic how often weather would be mentioned, right?

Well, in the supposed history of the Book of Mormon – which took place in a place with far greater extremes in weather – the east coast – not once is winter or summer mentioned.

The word Cold is mentioned once but that is in reference to the cold clay earth of the grave and heat is mentioned once relative to it being hard to labor in the heat of the day.

Hail, the most often repeated word related to weather is mentioned three times but always in reference to God sending it down from heaven as a form of punishment (which is a very biblical tenet).

So we know it was winter and at the time of “the feast of dedication or also what is known as the feast of “the renewing or the renovation.”

What feast or celebration do the Jews still celebrate in winter?

That’s right, Channukah, also known today (and then) as “the festival of lights.”

Are you beginning to see connections to our popular winter celebration?

This is the history of this winter time festival of dedication spoken of by John but what we call Channukah today.

It is not a festival demanded by God but was started by a Jewish revolutionary leader named Judas Maccabaeus around 164 B.C.

Three years earlier (in 167 BC) the Jewish temple and city were taken by the Greek Antiochus Epiphanes.

He was a blasphemous and bloody man and slew some forty thousand Jews before selling forty thousand more as slaves.

He was the one who also sacrificed a pig on the altar of burnt-offerings and took the pigs blood and sprinkled it all over the temple.

Well, old Maccabaeus was so incensed by Antiochus’s actions he initiated a revolt (known as the Maccabean revolt) and won the city and temple grounds back.

When the temple was purified there was a great deal of pomp and solemnity with the actual ceremony of purification lasting “eight days,” (eight crazy days, as Adam Sandler sings).

According to Josephus there was much singing and celebration during this time.

1st Maccabeas says:

“They decked, also, the forefront of the temple with crowns of gold and with shields, and the gates and chambers they renewed and hanged doors upon them,” (1 Mac. iv. 52-59).

Because this was a celebration of renewal or rededication it was called by John here the “Feast of Dedication,” and it was the Jewish historian that referred to it as the “feast of lights,” because the city was so lit up – which was expressive of joy.

Got all that?

We’ll this feast began on the twenty-fifth day of Chisleu, which corresponds to our December 15th and went for eight crazy days of lights, or until December 23rd.

From it (and other sources) we can see some of the origins to our modern day Christmas – but remember, Channakah came first. (verse 23)

23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.

Because the weather was probably troublesome, John says that Jesus was walking along Solomon’s porch, which was a covered walk-way on the east of the temple. And here, once again, Jesus is confronted by another situation (verse 24) .

24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, “How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.”

These Jews were certainly the leaders of the Sanhedrim.

From John’s account Jesus has been having a lot of “interaction” with them of late – with most of them ending with them picking up rocks to try and kill Him.

In this situation Jesus had introduced them to the fact that He was the shepherd of the sheep or flock of God.

They (seemed to agree – because scripture depicted Him so) that the promised Messiah was going to be a shepherd.

It seems like they picked up on this connection.

Additionally, He had done miracles which too were evidence of the promised Messiah.

But the rulers were still unconvinced.

First their hearts were hard, second they were alleging that Jesus was from Galilee, and if this was the case no scripture ever suggested that the Messiah could not come from there.

Add in that with them seeing Him as a despised lowly Galilean, He represented the opposite picture of the Messiah they expected.

So it seems all of these perplexing issues had them confused and they either came to him for a plain and positive declaration that he was the Messiah or again, they wanted to trip Him up – it’s hard to tell.

25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.”

Now where Jesus says, “I told you,” we don’t have a record of this here in John so it either refers to Him saying something that is not recorded by John or it refers to all the many, many other expressions that intimated that He was, indeed, the Messiah (for example, calling Himself the Good Shepherd and the Son of God clearly expressed this).

So, in not believing His words Jesus says, the works that I do in my Father’s name (the miracles) they bear witness of my identity as the Messiah.

I mean, Jesus was either the Messiah or He was an impostor.

Thus far the Pharisees were charging him with being the latter but God would never give the power to give sight to a man born blind and therefore they were stymied.

Jesus goes on, saying (verse 26)

26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

Now, we could read this in a couple of ways. We could read it as Jesus saying:

“You CAN’T believe because you are not one of my sheep, because you are not one of the elect and therefore it is impossible for you to believe” OR

“You believe not because you are not one of my sheep who are humble, and seekers of truth and willing to hear.”

In other words, “my sheep do not have your pride and arrogance – they are meek in heart and lowly in attitude but you are all about vanity and ego – my sheep are not this way. For this reason you do not believe.”

He adds (something we’ve already covered) saying:

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

Here we have repeated three facts from the mouth of Jesus about His sheep –

Ready?

They “hear His voice” (He did not say the Father’s voice but His)

“He knows them,” AND

“they follow Him.”

We articulated what following Him looks like on the board a bit earlier. Then Jesus delivers some really bold information to these men who expected an entirely different Messiah. He said:

28 And I give unto them (my sheep) eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Again, three topics, of which we will focus on two. But the three are:

He gives the Sheep eternal life.
His sheep will never perish, NOR
Shall any man pluck them out of His hand.

Let me cover the last two – as we gave some good attention to eternal life about four weeks ago.

First, His sheep will never perish.

The Greek word for perish here is understood by many to mean, “to be completely and utterly destroyed” – and in this sense they usually think Jesus is speaking of perishing or being destroyed in hell (and if they are real Bible students) then in the Lake of Fire.

Here’s the deal –the Greek word is Appolomai.

It is used 86 times in scripture.

In my opinion (and I’m not alone in this) the best definition of the word is to suffer loss NOT to be utterly destroyed. There are plenty of passages of those 86 that support this.

Loss of what?

I would suggest loss of anything that is not of God.

In Matthew 16:26 Jesus said:

“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

That word is DZY ME OO OO – it means suffer loss too.

When would a man suffer the loss of His soul?

Hell? Lake of Fire?

His Sheep – those who hear Him, whom He knows, who follow Him – will never perish or lose their soul through the process (or literally the marring) of it.

There are all sorts of scripture that refer to the punitive discipline that awaits those who are not His, the loss of soul (in my opinion) while those who are His will never experience such.

In Matthew 18:14 we read: “It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”

John 3:15 says: “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish.”

Romans 2:12: “They who have sinned without law shall also perish without law.”

In all these places the word refers to future discipline that involves loss but the declaration of Jesus here is that his followers, his true disciples, shall never be “cast away” to suffer loss.

Then Jesus says:

“Neither Shall any man pluck them out of His hand.”

This introduces us to a couple of topics – one of eternal security and one on the oneness of Jesus and the Father.

Man is not in the original mss but was added for clarities sake so we could read verse 28 as:

“Neither Shall any pluck them out of my hand.”

I am not going to speak to eternal security here – we are in His hand and nothing can take us out. No power on earth can “pluck” (which in the Greek means seize or rip or tear) them out of His hand.

To then emphasize this point AND to illustrate the relationship Jesus as with His father, He adds:

29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

Again, I am not going to talk about our security in Christ by Faith – it is evident. Nothing can tear us (whom the Father gave to Him) out of His hand and then He adds:

And my Father who is greater than all, nothing can rip them out of His hand either!

And having said this He adds a stone hurling comment to the discussion and says:

30 I and my Father are one.

Now, this is a bit dicey in explanation but it is REALLY important to see and read it in the way it is written and said, and to avoid reading INTO it any more or to take out of it any less.
In the previous verse Jesus plainly says that “His Father is Greater than all.”

From this we have the established fact that the Father is in charge and the Son, while given power (and gaining more) as He overcomes the oncoming suffering and death to the point where He takes a place on the right hand of God.

But we also are told by Jesus that He and the Father are one.

What does this mean?

Does it mean one person or being? No, it does not.

The word translated “one” is not in the masculine (which would indicate one of person), but is written in the neuter gender.

And it expresses union without explaining precisely what or how the union looks.

“One” here in the Greek is the neuter not the masculine.

One person is always in the masculine but the neuter speaks to one essence of nature.

When Jesus speaks to His apostles in His intercessory prayer He uses the neuter “hen” as well saying:

John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

Now, we are faced with two rather terrifying considerations:

First, if you have been LDS this admission may frighten you because it is exactly what the LDS teach relative to the oneness of God and Christ – they are one in purpose but separate in individuality.

This is true.

Secondly, if you are of the Trinitarian persuasion your view would be supported by this too in making the Father and the Son different persons but of the same exact objective.

Is there an alternative to these two views that hold biblical water and allow for verse 29 to say what it really says, that Jesus and the father are one in purpose?

Certainly.

Listen – the verse is true. Jesus is saying that He and the Father are one in intention and desire and are NOT one person.

So, we either assume they are two distinct persons of God (the Trinitarian view) or that Jesus is supporting the LDS idea that He was created by the Father and was sent on His errand as a means to become a god, OR that . . .

There is ONLY one God, and He sent His Son to do His will and the Son was perfectly united with the Father’s love and desires because He lived by the Spirit and not by the flesh . . . and in this they were one.

I would strongly suggest this was His meaning here in saying, “I and the Father are one.”

In it we renounce the LDS view as

The Father is not flesh and bone.
The Son was not created.

And in this we renounce the Trinitarian view in that Jesus states plainly that

the Father is greater than all
that He is NOT one with Him in the one God Trinitarian sense but is one with Him in intention.

Finally, we see that Jesus Christ is from God, and in Spirit all God, but His flesh would never allow Him to be ONE with God in the ontological sense, but in every other fashion and form.

In John 5:18 Jesus clearly explains that He (compared to fallen man) has a one of a kind relationship with God as His literal Father, that He has the power of God within His flesh, and that He actually came from the Father.

Here He summarizes it all matter of factly – “I and my father are one in all these ways.”

We have the same ambition and desires and perspective – why? Because I came from Him and love Him and lay down my life to do His will.

Naturally, it was such a bold, such an outrageous claim that the Jews retreated to the place they have been before . . . (verse

31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

The punishment for the crime of blasphemy because as they will put it next week, He had made Himself “equal with God.”

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